Guided Reading 2016-2017

Friday, December 7, 2012

Running Records - Guidelines and Forms - Couresey of Teacher Vision

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What is it?

A running record is a method of assessing reading that can be done quickly and frequently. It is an individually conducted formative assessment,
which is ongoing and curriculum based. It provides a graphic
representation of a student's oral reading, identifying patterns of
effective and ineffective strategy use. This method was developed by
Marie Clay, the originator of Reading Recovery, and is similar to miscue
analysis, developed by Kenneth Goodman.
Through a running record, teachers can obtain:

Running
records are different from informal reading inventories in that running
records do not use a specified text. Teachers don't need to photocopy
reading passages before students are assessed. This makes the running
record not only a little more spontaneous but also a little more
challenging.

Why is it important?

Running records help
teachers measure students' progress, plan for future instruction,
provide a way for students to understand their progress, and communicate progress to parents and the school community.
Assessments should measure what teachers teach and what students learn.
Such assessments help teachers to discover what is working and what is
needed in the teaching-learning interactions (Farr 1992).
Farr
also describes assessment information as helpful only when it is used to
help children better understand their own literacy development.
Expert
teachers use knowledge about their students – their backgrounds,
strengths, and weaknesses – to create lessons that connect new subject
matter to students' experiences (Westerman 1991).

When should it be taught?

Running records are meant to be
ongoing assessments and should be administered early in the year – and
repeated often throughout the year – to monitor reading progress. These
assessments are valuable because they not only give the teacher an
opportunity to learn more about the needs and strengths of individual
students but also provide time to interact with individual students. In
addition, the results of these assessments are invaluable when
communicating with parents about individual students.
As helpful
as these diagnostic assessments can be, unless a teacher is fortunate
enough to have a full-time instructional aide in the classroom, it is
often challenging to find time to fit these mini-tests into an already
jam-packed schedule. Here are a few ideas for squeezing these
assessments into a busy classroom:

Sneak in a few minutes during silent reading.
Ideally,
you are already reading alongside your students during this time rather
than using it to catch up on other paperwork. While it is not
recommended that all of the time allocated for silent reading be used
for assessing students, it might be possible to steal a few minutes to
complete one or two assessments before and after school while still
allowing time to model silent reading for your students.

Use before and after school.
There
always seem to be those one or two students who arrive at school 10
minutes early or stay a few minutes after dismissal. These few minutes
could be used to complete a diagnostic or two.

Become a center.
If your classroom uses centers
during reading workshop or mathematics instruction, you can fit in a
few individualized assessments during this time. Again, it is probably
unwise to use the entire center time to complete assessments, but even
15 minutes can be useful.

Work with a partner.
Some
teachers find it very helpful to work with a partner to facilitate the
assessment process. One teacher supervises both classes for a short
period of time, perhaps 45 minutes, while the other teacher pulls
students out individually to conduct assessments. The key to making this
plan work is for students to have engaging tasks to work on in the
large group.

Ideally, school administrators will help
reorganize schedules to facilitate the assessment process, but it never
hurts to have some ideas on completing these assessments on your own. If
planned for in advance, these diagnostics will be opportunities that
you and your students look forward to participating in.

What Does It Look Like?

The process of recording responses
during a running record is explained in detail in the next section. Use
the following example of a blank running record form: Blank Running Records Form

How Can You Make It Happen?

To take a running record,
choose a student who is reading and gather paper and pencils for
recording. As the student reads, record miscues. Ask the student to
retell the passage to check for comprehension. Then analyze the
responses, and use the information to decide on future instruction.

Preparation

During
silent reading time or small-group reading time, sit beside a student
and explain that you want the student to read a part of his or her book
to you. Be sure to tell the student that you will be writing while he or
she is reading, and that it doesn't mean a mistake has been made.
Position the recording form in a way that student won't be distracted by
what you are writing. Since you may do this frequently during the year,
make a note of the book or pages the student is reading, as the
passages should be new each time a running record is taken. For older
students, who tend to read quickly, it may be helpful to copy the pages
the student is reading and record notes on the copy.

Recording

Record all correct responses with a checkmark. Use a symbol to mark each substitution, insertion, omission, and self-correction,
along with words students don't know or ask for help pronouncing. A
list of conventional symbols used to code responses during a running
record can be found at on this printable.
Hesitations or repetitions may not affect the understanding of the
story, but they can provide information about a student's reading
strategies, so it is helpful to note them. If you think a student is
losing meaning, you may say, "Try that again," and make a note of the
prompt. Practice using these symbols prior to actual assessments, as
that may help you keep up with students who read quickly.
After
the student reads the passage, check comprehension by asking him or her
to retell the story or answer questions that are both literal and
inferential. Take notes on what the student learned and understood.

Scoring

Once you have noted self-corrections and the words
read correctly and incorrectly, look through the running record to tally
the number of errors. Here is the standard way to score each error:

Substitutions, insertions, omissions, and words the student didn't know are scored as errors.

Self-corrections are not scored as an error if the correct response was given.

If a line of text was omitted, each word in the line is scored as an error.

If a student repeatedly made an error on a proper noun, score it as one error.

"Try That Again" (TTA) is counted as one error.

Told words (T) and Appeals (A) are each scored as one error.

Repetitions (R) are not scored as an error.

Cueing Systems

After
the running record is scored, look closely at the errors to see if they
are errors in meaning, structure, or visual cues. Try to determine
which cues the student is using for each miscue and self-correction.
Kenneth Goodman developed three basic cueing systems.

Meaning/semantic: Readers use meaning to predict the message of text. Reinforce this cueing system by asking, "Does it make sense?"

Structure/syntax:
Readers use grammar and knowledge of how language goes together to
identify words. Readers who use this cueing system would choose a noun
to replace a noun, instead of choosing a verb to replace a noun, because
it would sound right to them. Reinforce this cueing system by asking,
"Does it sound right?"

Visual/graphophonic:
Readers use letter-sound relationships to figure out words by looking at
the letters and using the sounds they make. Reinforce this cueing
system by asking, "Does it look right?"

Students may
have a pattern to the way they read. They may rely heavily on one cueing
system, or not use another at all. If students need a reading strategy
strengthened, consider using mini lessons, small group, or individual
instruction, all of which can teach and review cueing systems.

Finding an Accuracy Rate, Error Rate, and Self-Correction Rate

Now that the running record is scored, the student's accuracy, error, and self-correction rates can be found.
To find the accuracy rate,
subtract the number of errors from the number of words, divide by the
number of words, and multiply by 100. This will tell if the text is
appropriate for the student. Text that has an accuracy rate over 95% can
be read by the student independently. An accuracy rate between 90 and
95% shows the student can read the text with some guidance and
instruction. If the accuracy rate is below 90%, the student is likely to
be frustrated and not be able to gain meaning from the text. Independent Reading Level: more than 95%Instructional Reading Level: 90-95%Frustration Level: below 90%
To find the error rate, divide the number of words in the passage by the number of errors.
Independent Reading Level: 1:200-1:25
Instructional Reading Level: 1:10-1:20
Frustration Level: 1:3-1:9
To find the self-correction rate,
add the number of errors and self-corrections together and divide by
the number of self-corrections. A ratio of 1:5 indicates one
self-correction to every five errors and indicates that the student
needs strategies for self-monitoring or self-correcting. Self-correcting
is important, because it, along with comprehension checking, is a
strategy that good readers use.
Excellent: 1:1-1:2
Good: 1:3-1:5
Needs strategies to self-correct: 1:5 or more

How Can You Measure Success?

Student
improvement in reading, due to information gained during running
records, is the best measure of success. In conducting running records
throughout the year, teachers will be able to see progress over time,
intervene with instruction when necessary, and communicate progress to
parents.